The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on Wednesday finally gave a green light by issuing a notification that allows the state to reclaim land for construction of the coastal roadKrishna Thevar | ET Bureau | December 31, 2015, 08:17 IST

MUMBAI: In a boost for Mumbai, the Centre has cleared the final notification for building the Coastal road in Mumbai. The 33.2 kilometre coastal road from Nariman Point to Kandivali is a Rs 12,000 crore project that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been pushing for aggressively with the centre ever since he came to power. Once completed officials claim that it would be one of a kind road in the country as it will be on par with roads in San Diego and Sydney.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on Wednesday finally gave a green light by issuing a notification that allows the state to reclaim land for construction of the coastal road. The coastal road clearance has been pending for a number of years as the Environment Ministry did not permit construction of roads in the sea by reclamation. Land could only be reclaimed for Ports and Harbours. However Wednesday's notification allows states to reclaim land for building roads.

Maharashtra needed to reclaim 90 hectares of land from the sea for constructing the Coastal road. A top official from the Chief Minister's War Room formed to specifically push such infrastructure projects said that the coastal road will be one of a kind not just in the state but in the country. " For the first time India would be having a road kissing the sea as in cities like San Diego and Sydney. This is a very important project as it would go to a huge extent in solving commuting issues in the city."said the official.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta whose agency will be executing the project said that the coastal road was important for the city as Mumbai needed a fifth corridor.

"Mumbai is a linear city and its choc a bloc with traffic on the rail and road networks. Any disruption on any of these networks leads to a cascading effect on the other networks causing a lot of hardship to people. The coastal road is a necessity as it will reduce the time taken from travelling from the Western Suburbs to South Mumbai," said Mehta.